Falls Count Anywhere

09-10-04

The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get.

SmackDown!
Here’s a very brief review of SmackDown!, as I am just about to run out the door. The show had a lot of wrestling, though not all of it was good. There were a few gems, and I loved them.

The JBL vs. Charlie Haas match that they set up last week proved that Charlie Haas is a damn good wrestler, as he took it to JBL and the match was well more than watchable. The post-match interview was also very strong, as JBL can talk. Orlando Jordan plays his part very well too.

Rene Dupree & Suzuki won the tag team titles over London & Kidman. This was kinda bizarre, since Kenzo and Rene haven’t been together much, but the match was OK. They did the spot where Kidman doesn’t want to do the Shooting Star Press and I think that’s a good way to go. It won’t work many more times.

Rey Mysterio, Bob Holly & RVD beat The Dudleys in a very strong match. I am all about this match. The Dudleys work really well with RVD, and his time with D-Von was strong. Mysterio was good, as always. Spike is really solid in his role as calling the shot, and the great Bob Holly was almost as good as he was in the late 90s.

Funaki beat down Heyman in a match that was a part of a fun little angle. Since Paul Heyman gave Heidenreich the night off, Theodore R. Long said that Heyman would have to wrestle in his place, but to be fair, he said it would be against an announcer. Funaki ended up being the guy who beat on Heyman. Beautiful beating that was ended by Heidenreich beating on Funaki. I liked it!

Every now and then, a picture just screams, "this is going to hurt."

The main event was Kurt Angle vs. Eddie Guerrero in a Lumberjack Match. It had all the standard Lumberjack Match stuff, but it also had a lot of smart work by Eddie and Kurt.

The guys know more than anyone how to do this stuff. Luther beat on Eddie, and Luther was jumped by Cena, which led to a huge brawl. The Big Show returned and attacked everybody!

I liked the ending quite a bit.

I’ll say this: it’s a solid night and I appreciate a night where there’s more wrestling than anything else and it’s entertaining on top of that.

News
Raw did a 3.6. Not good, really, but it’s better than the worst of it a few weeks ago.

No word on Amy of the Diva Search. She hurt her elbow, probably tearing ligaments, in the arm wrestling battle. She went to the hospital, though I haven’t heard what the diagnosis was. She was not happy about being eliminated, as she actually had great respect for the WWE people.

Unforgiven Preview
It’s not easy to realize that this coming Pay-Per-View is a big one. The entire future of more than one wrestler rides on this PPV going well. Unfortunately, I doubt it will do much of a buy-rate.

Trish Stratus takes on Victoria for the Woman’s Title. They’ve tried to build it up, but they haven’t made much of an impact on the viewers. This could be a fun match, since the two of them have had some really neat little matches over the last couple of years. I’m betting Trish wins, if only to keep the belt on the heel.

Keep the belt on the heel...

Tajiri and Rhyno take on La Resistance for the tag team titles. They’ve done a fairly good job in building this, though they’ve only positioned it as something important this week when they mixed it with the FlairTista vs. Benoit and Regal program. I’d say that they’ll keep it on La Resistance, but do it via DQ or some other cheap win method. I like Tajiri a lot, and Rhyno is better than anyone gives him credit for.

FlairTista takes on our friends Benoit and Regal. Regal is awesome. Benoit is awesome. Flair is way over with the crowd, and knows how to do get a crowd into a match. Batista is a bit of a stiff, but he’s athletic and can take moves better than most workers right now. I’m betting that Benoit gets the win here because they need to get heat back on Benoit, but Flair and Batista have the right friends. Still, it’s all Benoit on this one.

Edge is hurt, so they stripped him of the title and put the title up for grabs in a ladder match between Christian and Chris Jericho. Not sure who will win, but I know who should win. Christian. Christian needs a win and a big push to give a new face for RAW. I’m betting that the two of them are gonna do some big spots, though I bet they’ll avoid doing any bumps from the ladder out of the ring, since Christian is just back and they can’t afford to lose Jericho right now. My guess is that they’ll realize that Christian needs a win and give him the belt.

Randy Orton is having the biggest match of his life, and I’m afraid that the whole thing will lead to another reign by HHH. The fact is numbers are down, HHH has all the right ears and I’m guessing that he’ll have enough support to sway the vote back in his direction. The match will likely be pretty good, since both these guys can go when they are motivated. It is a really bad idea to do this switch right now, but it seems like that’s the way they are working. Randy Orton needs to be made into something important, and a short reign will not do that. Having someone interfere, like maybe Shelton Benjamin, and have that cause HHH’s loss might also work, but don’t kid yourself, HHH is getting the title and soon.

Chris Garcia